Comedy Italian Style: an Evolution of Italian Neorealism

Abstract:

This dissertation examines the relationship between the critically revered cinematic mode of production flourished in Italy at the end of World War II known as "neorealism" (1945-1954) and the commercially successful Italian genre of satirical comedies labelled "commedia all'italiana" or "comedy Italian style" (1958-1977), analysing several levels of continuity between the two and showing how the existing critical conception of the passage from the earlier cinematic form to the latter as an 'involution' is misconceived and how comedy Italian style can be actually considered an 'evolved' form of neorealism.